Shadows
by Crazy Fire Pea
Summary: Back from the dead, baby! Shadows is a story told through the eyes of Maria, a shadow flower being poorly treated. Join Maria as she fights for a better tomorrow and proves her worth!
1. Chapter 1 - Ignorance

"Wake up."

"Please, wake up."

I was passed out cold; I couldn't remember anything.

"Who...are..you?" I asked

"A Sunflower, exactly what you are. Are you not?"

"What?"

Just then I woke up; I lived in the Shadows. I'm an outcast. I'm different. My parents abandoned me; they hated me. I wasn't a usual sunflower. I looked like a shadow. Blue and black.

"Ugh, it's a brand new day huh?" I thought to myself, before getting up.

I got ready for breakfast, my sad excuse of a grandmother was there.

"You're late foolish girl!" She yelled at me.

"Shut up and feed me." I grumbled back

"Don't talk to me like that or else I will have to resort to physical punishment!" She screamed at me, terrified I shut up right away.

"You're lucky I don't kick you out on the street." She said, she then pulled the frozen bread out and threw it at me. She gave me eggs on the side too, knowing that I hate eggs.

"You better eat it all, or I'll have to discipline you!" She growled at me, pissed off I shot some of my petals at the bread. I threw my meal in the trash when she wasn't looking.

"What are YOU still DOING HERE?!" She angrily inquired, "Get OUT!"

"I despise you!" I angrily thought to myself before rushing out the door. This was only part of the horrible day. The school was my worst enemy;Everyone bullied me there.

"Hey, twerp! Ready for a beating?" One of my classmates said, before running towards his friends. He was a Fire Peashooter.

"Go to hell,"I shouted back.

"We'll get you at School, don't worry." He taunted. Everyone calls me ugly because I'm different. They call me mentally ill for not preferring to be out in the sun. But soon I scurried along to School, because if my Grandma ever got a call about me being absent she would beat the life out of me. I finally got there, and all those assholes were there, just as they were about to fight me up the bell rang.

"I'll throw you like a string ball!" Eleanor said, Stringball was a sport we had, you'd shoot a ball in a string net to score points and win. I ran to class while my teacher looked at me, disgusted. He was a Torchwood. He always wore his tie everywhere all the time for some reason.

"Why do YOU have to be here?" He yelled at me, before hitting me with a ruler. I walked to my desk, waiting for further instruction.

"Look, the whore is here!" Maya said Maya was a Blooming Heart, don't let her appearance fool you.

"I'm the whore? Says the one who always gets a new boyfriend each week." I shot back.

"Shut the fuck up you stupid bitch!" Her boyfriend Tony said. He was a Sapling.

"I hope you get killed by a damn zombie!" I screamed back; the entire class went silent; what I just said was one of the worst things a plant could say.

"OUT OF THE CLASS SHADOW PUPPET!" Mr. Torchwood screamed at me. He, of course, didn't call me by my real name. He then calmed the class down, and then sent me to the principal, Mrs. Sweet. Who indeed, wasn't sweet at all. She was an ignorant Sweet Potato.

"Have a seat." She firmly said to me.

"So, I heard that you've said you wanted someone to get killed by a zombie to a fellow classmate; is this correct?" She questioned me.

"That moron isn't my fellow classmate." I backtalked.

"Is what I said correct or not!? DON'T GET SMART WITH ME!" She snapped at me; I just held a grumpy face.

"Yes, it's true." I quietly said.

"Well, we do not allow for such things to be spoken at this School. It's a miracle that you're still here." She said, "Fortunately, I will be suspending you for a week. I will be calling your Grandma and telling her."

"I SWEAR TO GOD IF YOU DO I WILL STAB YOU!" I slipped.

"THAT'S SOMETHING ELSE I CAN TELL HER! A DEATH THREAT!" She yelled back at me.

She then proceeded to call my Grandma. 20 minutes later and she came. For a good while, Mrs. Sweet talked to my Grandma. After they had been done, my Grandma had the angriest look on her face. She dragged me all the way home by one of my petals. In front of everyone, I've ever seen. She then started to beat me senseless; it was hard to even breathe at that point. She stopped beating me and went up to my room, destroying anything that made me even smile. She then went up to her room and slammed the door. I couldn't move for an hour due to the hard beating.

"I'm running away from this place." I thought to myself. I snuck out of the house and crept in the shadows. I ran away as fast as I could, never looking back. This was a new beginning for me.


	2. Chapter 2 - The Not So Great Escape

Author's note: **So I've somewhat returned to this story, I'm currently updating it to be less edgy.**

I was walking down the busy streets of Leaftropolis. It was very late, and I was getting a little tired. It was too late to turn back now because I was too far away from that place.

"The neon lights at night, they are so lovely," I said to myself; there were neon signs in all sorts of places. Nevertheless, it was beautiful.

"Some crazy conspiracy said that zombies are going to invade us." I overheard. I thought zombies were just a myth to scare us. I've never seen one and don't plan on seeing any. They are certainly fake!

I continued down the sidewalk, avoiding any eye contact with anyone. When I peeked up, I would get all kinds of strange looks. I don't care, though, after everything I've been through so far.

The further I ventured the fewer people I saw. Eventually, I got to a point to where there was hardly anyone at all.

"I'm exhausted; I'll rest here for a while." I thought to myself. Before trying to drift to sleep. But just as I tried a dark figure shouted out "Brainz!"

"I'M TRYING TO SLEEP HERE, SHUT UP!" I began to yell; this only caused the shouts to get louder and louder.

"SHUT IT!" I screamed. All of the sudden a strange figure came running out of the darkness. It had a cone on its head with a brown coat and a tie. It looked nothing like a plant.

"What the hell are you?" I questioned.

"Brainz?" It replied back.

The creature then started to run after me; I will now proceed to run for my life.

"HELP!" I screamed out, but that did no good as the creature got closer and closer. It got so close that it tried to take a nibble out of my petals. He bit off some of my petals and caught me, but suddenly the shadows around me went into my body. I felt stronger, faster, better.

"NO, STOP IT!" I shouted, before using all of my force to kill the creature, it's head went flying. After that, shadows came out of my body and dissipated.

"What the hell happened?" I questioned myself, before taking rest in a tent. I drifted quickly to sleep due to having no more energy left.

"You're a shadow plant. You're special in many ways." The same voice from Yesterday's dream said.

"Who are you?" I questioned, again.

"A part of your heritage."

"What heritage?" I asked.

"Shadows."

"Shadows? I don't get it." I replied back.

Suddenly I woke up; it was early in the morning.

"The irony of being a Sunflower but loving darkness." I thought to myself, before getting up and continuing on my journey.

I feel like something is watching me, within the shadows.

I found some mask next to me while I was sleeping, I've put it on so people would have a harder time recognizing me.

"Honestly I don't know where I'm going," I said to myself.

I kept on going until all life was gone.  
"What the hell?" I said to myself. This place was so lifeless, something I've never seen at all.

Suddenly I got ambushed by five more of those things. 3 with buckets 2 with football clothing on? They caught me off guard and kicked me to the ground before trying to gnaw at my petals.

"SOMEONE HELP ME!" I cried out.

Just then there was a rainbow flash.

Boom

All the zombies are gone..?

"I'm not sure what exactly happened..." I said.

"What are you doing here?"

"Who exactly are you?" I questioned back with.

"The name's Dexter. I'm the rare and majestic beast known as the Unicorn Chomper." Dexter said, "I just saved your life."

"I'm running away from my life. Or hell as you could call it." I only spat out.

"Are you ok?" Dexter asked me.

"Sorta," I replied back with.

"So, if you've run away where do you sleep or eat?" Dexter inquired.

"I don't eat. I have no shelter." I bluntly replied with.

"If you want you can stay at my place," Dexter said.

"You have your place?!" I excitedly questioned.

"Yup, no one else. I had to learn to survive on my own. Survival of the fittest." Dexter said, before walking me to his place. I was so desperate that I just trusted him without even consulting the matter to myself. It was a long trek, but we got there in a zombie-free zone. It was beautiful here. So much color you could say.

"Ahh, here we are!" Dexter exclaimed.

"Thank you very much, Dexter," I replied.

"No problem, after all, I can't let someone just die out there." He said, while his mane blew in the wind.

"What about my past?" I questioned.

"Yeah, don't worry about your past. The past is the past you could say." Dexter replied with. He cheered me up.

"Yep, I'm just different." He answered back.

"Cool," I said.

We got inside the house, he gave me a quality meal and let me rest there. I'm pretty sure this is the start of something great.


	3. Chapter 3 - Dexter

You see? Being me isn't an easy task. Especially when you have weird dreams of shadow people and entering into their realm of something.

"When we count to 10 you will enter our darkness; you will forget all your troubles and relax." The mysterious figure said.

"Huh? If I can sleep there, then it's all good. Because I'm tired." I whined.

"1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9..."

"Hey I'm awake, so I did sleep?" I chimed to myself.

"Rise and shine!" Dexter said, entering the door.

"Hey Dexter, what's for breakfast?" I chimed

"Dog food and snot!" He said we started both laughing so hard that we fell on the ground. "But in all seriousness, we have Pancakes and Bacon!"

"Yum, my favorite!" I cheered.

We both went into the kitchen, the scent smelled amazing. Dexter seemed to be talking to himself and chuckling.

"They're ready!" Dexter said to me.

"My mouth is watering!" I replied back.

After a while, we finished eating we went outside into the city to start shopping.

"Alright, you can get some things you like, I'm gonna go get the stuff I erm I mean we need," Dexter told me.

"Thank you!" I chimed back.

"Your welcome." He said back to me.

I went around looking for stuff to buy for myself. I found some binoculars and put them in my cart. I then found the latest and greatest piece of tech, the Bonktendo Swap, I bought it and a game called "Plant Vs. Zombies: Heroes" as well as "The Legend of Wall-Knight: Rise of Super Brainz."

"This is awesome!" I cheered to myself. I then rushed to checkout and bought the items with the money Dexter gave me.

Dexter came up to me with his bag of items.

"Ready to go?" He said to me.

"Yup," I replied back.

 _ **A few hours later**_

"Enjoying your new system?" He said with a smile.

"Yes, I'm so grateful, thank you!" I replied back with a huge smile on my face.

"Well, I'm going to head to bed," He said, "See you in the morning."

"Goodnight," I said back to him.

Hours passed, and I finally became tired and went to bed.

 _ **The next day**_

"Finally, you're awake," Dexter said.

"What? Where am I?" I questioned

"You're in this building I rented." He said back.

I looked down and saw straps over my legs connecting to the chair.

"What the hell is going on Dexter?" I snapped.

"You're a shadow plant yeah?" He questioned.

"I guess, just get me out of here!" I shouted.

"I'm sorry my friend, I cannot let you out, for you might escape," He said, "You see, I want to rule this worthless world as my own, and to do so I need you, you have special powers."

"How could you?" I screamed back at him, "You saved me, how could you turn on me so quickly?"

"That doesn't matter anymore." He said, walking out of the room.

"You boys can do whatever you want, just don't kill her." Dexter snarled, walking out of the chamber.

Just then a Chomper and an Ice Pea came in and kicked the chair over, knocking me out.

When I woke up, no one but me was in the room. I was able to slither out of the seat. I saw a drill I could use to get these straps off my legs. I crawled over to the tool and started to cut them. Why that was there is not my concern. After I had done, I felt much better. But this didn't mean I was tough enough not to feel pain, no. I was still fragile and sore.

Just then the Chomper who had knocked me over came in.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" He growled out.

I slowly got up and went over to him. Then I felt stronger, but I felt like I wasn't in control. I broke one of his legs and them stomped on his skull, I stumbled back in realization.

"Did I just do that?" I said to myself.

I walked out of the room and into a living room with stairs and a kitchen.

A bunch of different plants were in there.

"SHE GOT OUT, TELL THE UNICORN CHOMPER!" a Fire Pea screamed out.

I used my powers more; I started to kill them all, one by one with ease. The power felt amazing, but I couldn't control it. I kicked down a door and had to jump from these wooden platforms to another one. I guess this building was under construction. I guess the word had spread because I had to hide from an Ice Cactus who fiercely looked for me. I slipped past him and went inside more. I finally ended up at an exit, but Dexter started to rush after me.

"NOT THIS TIME!" I screamed out, blasting him with a shadow pulse.

"THIS ISN'T OVER!" He growled as ran and jumped out the window.

I rushed out the door, finally safe from that monster. Back in the city, I walked around, looking for someplace to rest, but out of grasp from that monster. After wandering around for a few hours, I met a brutally beat Peashooter on the ground.

"Hey, are you ok?" I whispered.

He just coughed and looked at me before fainting.


	4. Chapter 4 - Infection

I'm not sure what happened to the peashooter, I'm holding him in my hands and running. I need shelter or anywhere else to sleep.

"That bastard, why would he do that?" I thought to myself.

After running for what seemed like hours, I found a house for sale. I took my hands and shattered the glass and found a bed waiting for me.

"I'll sleep soon, but first I have to help this poor peashooter," I concluded.

I examined him and saw that he's like me, he's black and bluish with particles flowing out of his leaves.

"I need to get rest,' I said to nobody, "I'm exhausted."

I started to drift into darkness as I closed my eyes. Then I saw it again, the realm of shadow people.

"Ahh, Maria, welcome," Greeted a cactus, who had the same type of color and particles spewing out.

"How do you know my name?" I interrogated.

"Us shadows plants know everyone." The cactus calmly replied.

"What do you mean?" I quickly blurted back.

"We shall talk about that soon dear. Right now we have more important things to discuss," The cactus responded, changing her tone, "You found a shadow Peashooter, yes?"

"I guess I did, he's in terrible condition," I informed.

"You can help him out, use your shadow powers to revive him," The cactus replied.

"Is it really that simple? Well I guess I'll just have to trust you," I muttered, "What is your name?"

"My name is Alex," Alex responded back.

"So, what exactly is this place?" I inquired.

"This is the Shadow Realm; us shadow plants live here in peace and harmony. We have to power to go to Earth, but we choose not to," Alex informed.

"How do I travel here without going to sleep?" I asked.

"You'll learn that soon," Alex said as she faded away.

It's morning; I stretched my little arms as I got up out of bed.

"I guess I should do the technique on him," I said to myself.

I then started to use my powers, a bunch of particles came from out my body and into the peashooters. He then began to wake up.

"Where am I, a-a-and who are you?" He said, with a tired tone.

"You're safe now, I just saved your life," I answered, "What's your name?"

"My name is Lucas," Lucas answered, "What's your's?"

"My name is Maria," I informed him, "We should get back into the city, we're in the outskirts."

"Alright, and thank you for saving my life," He thanked.

"No problem," I replied back.

 **A couple of hours later  
**

"Here we are, at the heart of Leaftropolis," I said to Lucas, "So what exactly happened to you?"

"My memory is fuzzy, but I'll try my best to explain," Lucas replied, "I was walking through the ally looking for a sketchy guy, he was going to sell me Metal Peas, some of the strongest peas around. I saw a shadowy figure; I can't remember anything else."

"Wow." I simply said.

I turned on the sidewalk and saw a weird looking plant.

"What is that?" I asked in shock, "It looks like a hybrid between one of those creatures that almost killed me, and a plant."

"Looks like a zombie mixed with a cabbage pult," Lucas said to me, loading his peas, "You encountered a zombie before?"

"Yes, I guess if that's what you call them," I replied back.

"Hey, are you ok?" Lucas asked the plant.

"BRAAAAAINNZZZ!" It replied, trying to take a bite out of Lucas.

"AYIEEEE! MARIA HELP!" Lucas shouted out.

My instincts told me to shoot out shadow pulses at the creature.

"That was too close." Lucas said to me, shaking in fear from his near death experience.

Just then swarms of those things came out from the alleys, I then started to hear sirens and saw an LTPD car pull up. Two police officers came out; one was an ice chomper and the other was a winter melon.

"Dispatch, there's more of the infected, and there are two civilians in the way, requesting backup." The ice chomper said.

They both started to fire at the zombies, and the zombies shot back. Both of us slid into cover behind a building, peeking out at the zombies and firing some shots. An infected melon pult started to shoot melons at us, barely hitting us.

"We need to be careful!" I shouted out to Lucas, firing off another shot on the progressing horde. Then the regular zombies came flooding in, growling for their craving for brains.

Then I saw it, a huge robot slowly walking into my vision.

"GET IN THE CAR!" The ice chomper shouted out. We all rushed to the car, once everyone got in we sped off. As we fled for our lives the robot fired off a laser, it missed us by inches and instead hit a building, causing a gaping hole inside of it.

Lucas and I rolled down our windows and started firing at zombies and the infected flowing out of the alleys. Their heads flew off as our projectiles hit their faces.

"How did this all happen?" I asked.

"We don't know; it just happened out of nowhere." The winter melon answered

Just then a horde of zombies started to cross the street, the snow chomper driving ran them over, sliding the car a little bit. A bunch of helicopters flew through the sky to the area where we fought the infected. They seemed to be military helicopters.

"Looks like the military is taking the fight to them." The ice chomper acknowledged.

"That's good, the less, the better," I replied.

We drove out of the heart of Leaftropolis and into the suburbs.

"There aren't any infected or any zombies here, you two should be safe," The winter melon told us.

"Thank you for saving us," Lucas said.

"Thank YOU for helping us, and good luck," The winter melon replied.

We got out of the car and walked around; they gave us some money for food.

"Where do you want to eat?" Lucas asked me, "I'm starving."

"At Peashooter Express, I haven't been there in ages!" I said to him, with a smile.

"Peashooter Express it is!" He said, laughing.


End file.
